Issaquah volleyball came into Liberty High School white hot, winners of nine out of 10, and in terms of recent memory, winners of 11 in a row over Liberty dating back to 2007.
Max Preps is the only really public record of volleyball seasons at Liberty, but there is finally a green “W next to a 3-0 set score as Liberty dominated the Eagles in straight sets on Oct. 28 at home.
Liberty came in with some momentum of their own as well as they have won 12 out of their last 13 games. Their one loss came in a five set slugfest against Skyline on Oct. 16. Following that loss was a win on the road at Bellevue and Mount Si. Those wins put Liberty back on track for their goals of making a run at the state tournament Nov. 21-22 in Yakima.
“The past couple weeks we have been playing really good teams. It’s been really fun seeing how much better we get each time,” Head Coach Shea O’Brien said.
On Oct. 28, Liberty came out like gangbusters. A full fledged attack on multiple levels came down on the Eagles, and it wasn’t just feeding Julianne Lee and Charlize Espinosa. There was a methodical approach to pick apart the Issaquah defense.
“Being able to mix up the offense makes it a lot harder on their blocks, which makes it easier on our hitters. That’s definitely made a huge impact the last couple of weeks,” Julianne Lee said.
Gabriella Catherall sets the ball for Liberty against Issaquah. Ben Ray / The Reporter
O’Brien gave a shoutout to senior captain Gabriella Catherall, who orchestrated the offense.
“Gabby was doing amazing. Gabby ran a great offense the entire time,” O’Brien said.
Now it’s not like Lee and Espinosa weren’t effective, — they played their part and when Liberty needed a point. Those two were Johnny-on-the-spot and delivered when the Patriots needed a point.
In the first set, inside a packed Liberty gym of fans who were expecting a title fight, initially Issaquah threw the first punch. The Eagles took a 7-5 early lead and looked to generate some early momentum. Liberty took a two point lead, 12-10, and Issaquah tied the first set at 12.
“They were super aggressive (from the service line) and hit their targets every time. We kept them out of system. Issaquah has a very predictable offense. We just had to keep the ball away from Bryn and make other people play. We were okay with maybe losing to other people,” O’Brien said.
But Liberty found their stride from the service line and players like Gabriella Catherall, Alicia Lester, Lee and Espinosa all went on runs from the service line in the three set lead. Serving has the potential to win matches and also lose them if the quality dips. But against Issaquah, the Patriots were dynamic from the stripe.
“That is something we work on every practice. For the first 10 minutes we work on serving to every zone and we play games against each other with serves. It was cool to see it show up in the game,” Lee said.
The first set concluded 25-19 and Liberty rolled that momentum into the second set taking an early 6-3 lead and led by as many as nine in the second set. In that second set, the presence of sophomore Madelyn Huey started to show. The young libero found her way into the starting lineup in the massive win over Bellevue, and has made an impact ever since.
“She had some opportunities at the beginning of the season and I didn’t think she was quite there. Then at Bellevue we lost the first set. I put her in to give her a chance because she could just dig a ball. I can’t take the shirt off of her because she is playing so well,” O’Brien said.
Differentiating the offensive attack has opened new doors for Liberty. Against Skyline, the Patriots fell into the trap of feeding Lee and Espinosa. By the end of the fifth set, the pair were tired and were a focal point to defend by Skyline.
Now, the Patriots have learned to use their IQ and execute in different ways, and that was on full display against Issaquah. “Against Skyline we just set Julianne every single time and Charlize every time. We had a talk that, ‘We can’t set one person every time.’ When we get to the fourth set, Julianne is tired and she can only put so many balls away,” O’Brien said. “We had to vary up our offense.”
The reality of a three set win over Issaquah seemed far out, as the Eagles haven’t lost in straight sets in the regular season since Oct. 2 last season. O’Brien wouldn’t even say that this was the best the Patriots have played all season.
“I thought we played better against Bellevue. I felt like we did exactly what we needed to do tonight. But that is what is great about this team. We don’t need to do anything special. We just have to play how we can play,” O’Brien said.
Interlake forfeited the final Patriots match of the season and now Nov. 8 during the KingCo Tournament is the next time Liberty will take to the court competitively against a team with a different colored shirt.
“I think we just have to practice like we are playing a game the next day. I feel like our practices before games are really hard and we focus in and work on what we need to work on. As long as we continue to practice hard over these next few weeks, November 8 is gonna feel like nothing to us,” Gabby Catherall said.
Charlize Espinosa goes for the ball at the net for Liberty against Issaquah. Ben Ray / The Reporter
Over the last three seasons, Liberty has placed 5th, 7th and 7th in the state tournament. This year’s team has aspirations to surpass those places. “I cannot wait for KingCo, districts and state because I feel like we have worked so hard to get to where we are going to get to. I just know where we are now is not where we are going to be when we hit state. I am excited to see that potential form and for our team to grow,” Catherall said.
